Living Economies Forum Fellow

Jacob Bomann-Larsen

Jacob Bomann-Larsen

The Scandinavian countries are known and admired throughout the world for their progressive social and environmental values and policies. They are well positioned to lead the way in creating national models of the living economies that offer hope for a viable human future.

In February 2012, we had the honor and privilege of naming Jacob Bomann-Larsen (born 1948) as a Fellow of the Living Economies Forum to serve as our ambassador to the Scandinavian countries.

Jacob is a Norwegian economist who has been a pioneering advocate for the Living Economy/New Economy framework in Norway for several decades. As an LEF Fellow, he will facilitate exchange between our New Economy partners in the United States and similarly aligned individuals and organizations in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Jacob has co-authored or contributed to a number of Norwegian language books on New Economy issues and is an experienced speaker. He was a co-founder of The Future in Our Hands, which is the largest non-governmental sustainability organization in Norway. He was also a co-founder of the Norwegian initiatives Alternative Future Project, the Norwegian Centre for a New Economy, and the Norwegian Forum for System Debate.

Jacob has a long career serving as a senior adviser to the Norwegian government on ethical and sustainable consumption issues, holding posts in both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. He has written speeches for many government ministers and had a central role in preparing the Norwegian government’s White Paper reports to the Parliament on consumer policy, economic globalization and corporate social responsibility. He had a leading role in developing the government’s policy on ethical requirements in public procurement.

He was the Norwegian government’s representative to the International Organization for Standardization working group that developed the ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility for private and public sector organizations.

Jacob has an extensive national and international network of connections to both non-governmental and governmental organizations. He has now retired from his government post in order to work full time building understanding of and support for the Living Economy/New Economy framework throughout Scandinavia.